APR recently spoke with Alicia Escott Lumpkin, Democratic challenger for Alabama House District 60, to learn more about her campaign ahead of the upcoming May 19 primary elections, where she will face off against incumbent state Representative Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, and fellow challenger Nina Taylor.
“I’m running because I believe that we’re at a turning point with District 60 and we can’t afford to miss out on what’s next,” Lumpkin told APR when asked what motivated her to enter the race. “The opportunity is now, the time is now, and we need leadership to help us meet the moment. And so that’s what my goal is: to help us meet the moment, to help us move forward, and to help us progress as a district.”
Lumpkin added that she believes there is a disconnect between local leaders in Birmingham and the elected officials like Givan who currently represent the district in the state Legislature. She told APR that she hopes to “bring some alignment across the board so we can help move our communities forward.”
Lumpkin’s campaign was also inspired in-part by the legacy of her aunt, Sundra Escott-Russell, who was the first African American woman ever elected to the Alabama Senate.
”[My aunt’s] legacy, the legacy of my grandfather—my whole family is rooted in community and service,” said Lumpkin. “She came into the office in ’81. That’s a couple of years before I was born, so for a time in my life all I knew was the things that she was doing. That was the norm to me. Going to Montgomery, seeing her in action, doing things in the community—that was the norm for what I grew up in.”
But while Escott-Russell’s legacy certainly serves as inspiration for Lumpkin, she stressed that, at its core, her campaign is driven by a real desire to serve her community.
“While that is a big part of my story, that’s not why I’m running,” Lumpkin said. “I’m running because I believe I can make a difference.”
Lumpkin’s policy platform includes several issue areas that she hopes to address if elected, including economic opportunity and infrastructure development, healthcare access, voting rights, criminal justice reform and veterans affairs. She told APR that economic development in particular is a major focus of her campaign.
“My platform is focused on economic opportunity, economic growth, workforce development—making sure that we have folks in our neighborhoods and in our communities and our schools that have the skill sets to be able to meet the ever-changing demand of the workforce and then strengthening our communities,” Lumpkin said. “Now, when I think about economic opportunities, a lot is focused on how can we get new industries and take advantage of the moment that we have right now. There are a lot of amazing projects that are happening in Birmingham. We need to make sure that District 60 is positioned and advocating for itself to receive more in the region.”
“What I’m hoping to do is to connect the dots,” she continued. “So one of the things—I don’t know how it would come about—but creating some strategic corridor development act, which will allow us to be able to begin investing in the infrastructure around highways and corridors. Ensuring that we have legislation and laws and policies on the book to be able to help make sure that as we get all these amazing economic development and all this growth, that we’re taking care of the people that live in our communities. Ensuring that they don’t get priced out and making sure we are taking care of the folks that are continuing to live here and that have lived in our communities for ages.”
Lumpkin also believes that her 17 years of experience working for the City of Birmingham have prepared her to address many of the issues currently facing residents of District 60.
“With the City of Birmingham, I have had the opportunity of working in various positions. And so I learned a lot about code enforcement and legal dumping. I learned a lot about the issues that residents are telling me when I go to their doors,” she told APR. “And so it’s just perfect how I have the experience working in a municipality. I understand where the roadblocks are. I understand where laws sometimes hinder municipalities and the counties from actually doing the work because it can be sometimes convoluted. And so understanding those things I think will will allow me to have some insight when we’re making laws or how we can adjust laws to make sure that they are actually functional for the people that are using them on the ground.”
Outside of Birmingham, Lumpkin said she would like to see the state better support public educators, continue to invest in economic development, and ensure that business activity benefits local communities.
“Working to see how we can make sure that our teachers are supported and supported well, making sure that we are adequately funding the people that are taking care of our youngest generation, is important to me,” Lumpkin said. “I think making sure that we continue to make Alabama a good place for businesses to come, but also making sure we’re holding those businesses accountable to the neighborhoods and the communities. I don’t think that stops at District 60. I think that those things are statewide issues.”
With regard to public education, Lumpkin told APR that she believes the CHOOSE Act—Alabama’s education savings account program which allows parents to use refundable income tax credits to cover non-public educational expenses—“needs some work.”
“I think there’s some opportunities that we have that we can make this bill a little bit better,” she said. “I think there’s some conversations that need to be had. I think we’re in a space where we’re kind of seeing it being walked out and so giving it space to see how it affects people is important.”
As for healthcare access, Lumpkin said she is particularly focused on advocating for women’s healthcare issues and addressing disparities affecting mothers in the state.
“It’s just really [about] reinforcing the spaces where we take women’s healthcare seriously and that we are able to make sure that we are supporting bills and initiatives that take care of not only the family, but the mother as well,” Lumpkin said. “Because there are a lot of spaces where, even with healthcare and when they’re going to the hospital, there are a lot of disparities. And so making sure that we help and create legislation to close those gaps and making sure we take care of them are important to me.”
“I’m a woman, I haven’t had the honor of having children, but I understand fertility issues, I’ve had them,” she added. “And so making sure that when women walk into these spaces, that the only thing they have to be concerned about is getting better or correcting issues and not having to worry about how they’re paying insurance [or] not being able to get the procedures that they need—just supporting those efforts.”
Lumpkin also expanded on her ideas regarding criminal justice reform, as Alabama’s prison system continues to face heightened scrutiny following the release of the award-winning documentary, “The Alabama Solution.”
“I do think we need to focus dollars on [crime] prevention and reentry spaces, so when we get people out of the jail system we can adequately support them and give them the resources they need to be impactful and connected residents,” Lumpkin told APR. “And then on the front end, how do we prevent some of these things from even coming to this space? Are there programs that we can fund that will allow us to help redirect a young person from going down a certain path or making certain choices that will impact their lives for generations to come?”
“And so supporting those, supporting kind of the beginning and the end, I think could help reduce that middle cycle where we’re having to send young men to prison, because, honestly, too many are going for nothing,” she continued. “And when they’re coming out, they’re not able to be rehabilitated and then they fall back into the cycle. So how do we start breaking cycles on the front end and on the back end? And the front end comes down to some poverty issues, so what can we do to make sure people have jobs [and] stronger communities? You know, it’s all a circle in blight. Those things affect a young person’s trajectory moving forward.”
As the May 19 primary draws nearer, Lumpkin’s campaign is continuing to build momentum, gaining prominent endorsements from a variety of organizations and local leaders, including the Business Council of Alabama, Jefferson County District 2 Commissioner Sheila Tyson and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin. Lumpkin told APR that she believes these endorsements have come as a result of both familiarity and a desire for change within the district.
“I think it’s twofold,” Lumpkin said. “First, I believe with the mayor, he’s known me for a while before he was on school board. He knows who I am and he’s seen the work that I’ve done, and so he believes in me as a person that I can make a difference.”
“I think some of the support that I’m getting around the community and the neighborhood is partially because people know me as well,” she added. “But some of that is people are ready for change, and I think I have a vision that will help us to achieve some of the things that we’re all looking and hoping for. So I think it’s a perfect combination. I think we’re in a perfect season for change and I’m grateful that I am in the place to be able to help our community and my district move toward that change and that progress.”
To Lumpkin, that vision of change exists at the core of her candidacy, and the essential question behind the upcoming primary election will be whether voters wish to embrace that change or maintain the current status quo.
“I think we’re at a turning point in District 60, and we really have to look at ourselves and where we are right now and decide if we want change,” Lumpkin said. “We can continue down the path that we’re on, or we could choose to have leadership that is able to identify opportunities and work well across the board. I made my decision: I’m going to continue to fight for District 60, and I just hope that the residents of District 60 will partner with me so we can fight together.”
